Cruz also used a news conference at a distribution center on Friday to blast the response and ask Trump to step up efforts to get aid delivered to islanders in need.

“We are dying here, and I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles,” she said. “Mayday! We are in trouble.” She has responded to Trump’s tweets by saying that the one goal was “saving lives.”

I love Trump's response. People who can't even slightly help themselves are useless. The hard part was transporting the aid to an island:

Last edited by AuH20; 09-30-2017 at 10:40 AM.

“Force the normies into taking sides. At the moment they are just like "meh, I am minding my own business" retreating culturally into their private bubbles and "safe-spaces" since they don't understand what is going on. When the actual "us vs them" starts, they will be forced to fight or they'll die.” - Anonymous Poster

* Enforce Border Security – America should be guarding her own borders and enforcing her own laws instead of policing the world and implementing UN mandates.

* No Amnesty - The Obama Administration’s endorsement of so-called “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, will only encourage more law-breaking.

* Abolish the Welfare State – Taxpayers cannot continue to pay the high costs to sustain this powerful incentive for illegal immigration. As Milton Friedman famously said, you can’t have open borders and a welfare state.

* End Birthright Citizenship – As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be granted U.S. citizenship, we’ll never be able to control our immigration problem.

What? Texas & Florida are special but Puerto Rico, an American territory, is at fault for their crisis? Plus it IS an island and help from surrounding states/counties is a little more difficult.

It also took Trump a week+ after the disaster, to suspend the Jones Act so ships could come.

Texas and Florida aren't run this poorly in terms of fiscal preparedness. Like I said, Puerto Rico epitomizes the grasshopper from the Aesop Tale. They magnified the potential impact of the hurricane thanks to their own corruption and lack of planning.

As recently as 2016, the island suffered a three-day, island-wide blackout as a result of a fire. A private energy consultant noted then that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority “appears to be running on fumes, and … desperately requires an infusion of capital — monetary, human and intellectual — to restore a functional utility.”

Puerto Ricans in early 2016 were suffering power outages at rates four to five times higher than average U.S. customers, said the report from the Massachusetts-based Synapse Energy Economics.

As of 2014 the government-owned company was $9 billion in debt, and in July, it filed for bankruptcy under the provisions set by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law signed by President Obama in 2016.

Problems accumulated. Cutbacks in tree pruning left the 16,000 miles of primary power lines spread across the island vulnerable. Inspections, maintenance and repairs were scaled back. Up to 30% of the utility’s employees retired or migrated to the U.S. mainland, analysts said, and the utility had trouble hiring experienced employees to replace them.

The neglect led to massive and chronic failures at the Aguirre and Palo Seco power plants. The three-day blackout in September 2016 underscored how fragile the system was, and that the company was "unable to cope with this first contingency," the Synapse Energy report said.

Last edited by AuH20; 09-30-2017 at 11:14 AM.

“Force the normies into taking sides. At the moment they are just like "meh, I am minding my own business" retreating culturally into their private bubbles and "safe-spaces" since they don't understand what is going on. When the actual "us vs them" starts, they will be forced to fight or they'll die.” - Anonymous Poster

A pattern is emerging. GOP-run states like Florida and Texas are stoic and take care of themselves. Democrat states like Louisiana and Puerto Rico can't take care of themselves, scream "someone come save us", and eventually scream "racism".

Twitter: B4Liberty@USAB4L"Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
"Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Corporate-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
"Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.

Texas and Florida aren't run this poorly in terms of fiscal preparedness. Like I said, Puerto Rico epitomizes the grasshopper from the Aesop Tale. They magnified the potential impact of the hurricane thanks to their own corruption and lack of planning.

Much of Puerto Rico's poverty comes from US Big Corps & the denial of becoming a state & being virtually imprisoned by the US.

Puerto Rico’s Complicated History with the United States

In February 1898, Puerto Ricans had a lot to celebrate. After centuries of Spanish colonial rule, they had just become an independent part of Spain, complete with a Constitution and voting rights. But within only a few years, the U.S. would throw all that asunder, paving the way for Puerto Rico’s nonvoting territory status today.

It all started with the Spanish-American War, which began in the spring of 1898, when Puerto Rico was a Spanish territory. The U.S. invaded Puerto Rico not only because it was a Spanish territory, but also due to its interests in developing a sugar market there, says Lillian Guerra, a history professor at the University of Florida.

“When the Americans arrived, General [Nelson] Miles issued, very famously, a decree manifesto in which he promised to protect the life, liberty, and happiness of Puerto Ricans, and their property,” she says. “A lot of Puerto Ricans who were poor, who were working-class, who were peasants, took this as an invitation to side with the Americans in what was still a war against Spain.”

To support the U.S., Puerto Ricans began to attack Spanish-owned businesses and property. But “to their great shock and awe,” Guerra says the Americans did not keep their promises after they won the war, when Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the U.S. in the Treaty of Paris. The U.S. ignored the new, democratically-elected local parliament of Puerto Rico in favor of creating its own colonial system.

With the westward expansion of the 19th century, the U.S. established “incorporated territories” that could and did become formal American states—like the Colorado Territory. But in 1901, a series of legal opinions known as the Insular Cases argued that Puerto Rico and other territories ceded by the Spanish were full of “alien races” who couldn’t understand “Anglo-Saxon principles.” Therefore, the Constitution did not apply to them, and Puerto Rico became an “unincorporated territory” with no path forward to statehood.

In addition, the U.S. disrupted Puerto Rico’s coffee industry, implementing a sugar economy and creating massive poverty among the population. “Within the first 10 years of the U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico, U.S. sugar interests had pretty much taken over, and the Puerto Rican coffee class has been displaced entirely,” Guerra explains.

Puerto Ricans were outraged after the war. Instead of becoming citizens, Puerto Ricans were in limbo. “They didn’t even have a passport; they didn’t have any legal standing in the U.S. system until 1917.”

That year, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens under the Jones-Shafroth act—this way the U.S. could deploy them as troops during World War I (similar to how the Emancipation Proclamation legalized the Union’s use of black troops). The federal government believed that white people weren’t suited to fight in tropical climates because they didn’t have immunity to the diseases found there. Instead, the U.S. sent Puerto Rican “immunes,” as they were called, to defend the Panama Canal.

Although they were now U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans could not vote for president or elect voting senators or representatives to the U.S. Congress. In fact, they still can’t.

Since 1901, Puerto Ricans have only been able to elect a nonvoting “resident commissioner of Puerto Rico” to the U.S. House of Representatives. Like the United States’ other territories of Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, as well as the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., Puerto Ricans have no real representation in Congress. And unlike D.C., which gained the right to vote for president with the 23rd Amendment in 1961, none of the American citizens in these territories can vote for the president of their country.

“They have a voice in Congress who has no vote, not even on legislation related to Puerto Rico,” Guerra says. “So the result of that is that nobody cares about Puerto Rico, and its government is basically only in control of local financial matters and the distribution of aid that comes from the federal government as well as its own tax base.”

During the 20th century, various Puerto Ricans have sought to win complete independence for their islands from the United States. However, Guerra says that the federal government quashed these attempts through overt censorship and the repeated jailing of revolutionary leaders, like the independence movement leader Pedro Albizu Campo who was jailed in 1936 for organizing Puerto Rican workers.

“It’s still a country that is dominated by U.S. investors,” Guerra says. “And you should know that most U.S. companies pay virtually no taxes to the Puerto Rican state.” This combined with the local government’s massive corruption has created an economic crisis. In September 2017, these economic problems worsened with the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria, which will require extensive rebuilding.

Is there any hope for Puerto Rico becoming a state in the future? After all, the reason they’re not is because more than a century ago, a judge said that Puerto Ricans were too racially inferior to be a part of the U.S. legal system. Today, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, sits on the highest court of law in the United States—the Supreme Court.

Just a few months before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans actually voted in favor of a referendum for statehood. But unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how many Puerto Ricans vote for it. The only people who can incorporate the islands into a state are the voting members of Congress.

“It’s very unlikely that statehood will ever happen, at least not in our lifetimes, unless something in the political culture of the U.S. Congress shifts radically to suddenly embrace Latin Americans, Latinos, and Puerto Ricans,” she says. “And I don’t think we’re going that direction.”

A pattern is emerging. GOP-run states like Florida and Texas are stoic and take care of themselves. Democrat states like Louisiana and Puerto Rico can't take care of themselves, scream "someone come save us", and eventually scream "racism".

Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

Jones act did not prevent "ships could come." Only foreign ships from the U.S.

The Jones Act deterred faster help for Puerto Rico.

The White House announced early Thursday that President Trump has agreed to waive the Jones Act, which will temporarily lift shipping restrictions on Puerto Rico and enable the hurricane-ravaged island to receive necessary aid.

The waiver from the shipping law, which requires American-made and -operated vessels to transport cargo between U.S. ports, will only last for 10 days and goes into effect immediately.

Lawmakers in Congress since Monday have been pushing for a one-year waiver from the rules in order to help speed up deliveries of food, fuel and other critical supplies to Puerto Rico, which has been battered by two hurricanes in the last month. Officials estimate that the island could be without power for six months.

The administration faced fierce backlash for not immediately lifting the law for Puerto Rico after it issued a two-week waiver for Texas and Florida in response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Thank you Captain Obvious. As Obama would say, it's one of the best of our 57 states. Much more accepting of socialism.

Last edited by Brian4Liberty; 09-30-2017 at 12:10 PM.

Twitter: B4Liberty@USAB4L"Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country, and giving it to the rich people of a poor country." - Ron Paul
"Beware the Military-Industrial-Financial-Corporate-Media-Government Complex." - B4L update of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Debt is the drug, Wall St. Banksters are the dealers, and politicians are the addicts." - B4L
"Totally free immigration? I've never taken that position. I believe in national sovereignty." - Ron Paul

The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not represent this forum or any other entities or persons.

Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

It also took Trump a week+ after the disaster, to suspend the Jones Act so ships could come.

False, their ports were backed up with supply ships waiting to offload. It was never about getting more ships to their ports. Even now still backed up. He lifted the Jones Act for future recovery efforts only.

I just want objectivity on this forum and will point out flawed sources or points of view at my leisure.

Originally Posted by spudea on 04/20/16

There won't be a contested convention

Originally Posted by spudea on 05/30/17

The shooting of Gabrielle Gifford was blamed on putting a crosshair on a political map. I wonder what event we'll see justified with pictures like this.

False, their ports were backed up with supply ships waiting to offload. It was never about getting more ships to their ports. Even now still backed up. He lifted the Jones Act for future recovery efforts only.

Partly true- only American ships could come in-

Most of Puerto Rico’s ports were disabled or destroyed by Maria. The largest function one, in San Juan, is already packed with thousands of shipping containers full of food, water, and other badly-needed resources. The challenge facing relief workers isn’t getting supplies into the island’s ports – it’s getting them out.

“It’s pretty ugly out there,” Jose Ayala, vice president of Puerto Rico Services for Crowley Maritime Inc., told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday.“There is damage to the trucking infrastructure, to the distributors, to the supermarkets, to the roads. And then, if your infrastructure is not so damaged, and you can get a driver to the truck, there is no fuel to move the equipment.”

Ayala has an incentive to argue that the problem in Puerto Rico isn’t Jones Act related, given that his Jacksonville-based company profits from the law. But his assessment is broadly shared by local observers.

So, the Trump administration isn’t starving Puerto Rico of resources to inflate the profit margins of the shipping industry.

But that doesn’t mean the White House isn’t callously hurting the besieged territory for that industry’s sake. Keeping the Jones Act in place won’t keep supplies from reaching the island – but doing so will make them more expensive. According to the Huffington Post, Puerto Rico may end up paying twice as much for relief materials than it would have, were it able to secure goods from foreign carriers.

More crucially, the Jones Act has long been a burden on the island’s economy – and that economy doesn’t need any more burdens. Before Hurricane Maria sent Puerto Rico back to the pre-industrial age, the territory was already suffering through a wrenching debt crisis. To satisfy the island’s creditors, a “fiscal oversight and management board” – established by our federal government – has forced Puerto Rico to pursue austerity measures that could keep it in recession for years. These bleak economic conditions have caused many of the most affluent and talented Puerto Ricans to leave for the U.S. mainland, which has, in turn, exacerbated the crisis in the country they left behind.

Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

Foreign carriers can bring in supplies. They just can't do it from US ports. Funny how the Democrats are showing their true colors and are now anti US labor, it cost too much...

Be glad you don't live in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is in an interesting predicament. Deep in a 10-year recession, it is now $72 billion in debt.

The island territory of the U.S. has mass unemployment and a poverty rate twice that of America’s poorest state. And after Puerto Rico’s governor announced it would not be able to pay back its debt in June, the territory government raised taxes to 11.5 percent in an effort to help pay back debts.

Its status as a territory does not help its economic woes. While Puerto Ricans are American citizens, they can’t vote. Nor does the island territory receive the same federal funds as states. The Jones Act, which requires everybody in Puerto Rico to buy goods from an American-made ship with an American crew, limits business owners and jacks up prices.

PBS NewsHour correspondent Chris Bury went to Puerto Rico to understand how citizens are coping with the economic crisis. He spoke to Joel Franqui, owner of a fair-trade store in Puerto Rico, about the taxes and how the Jones Act affects his business.

Chris Bury: The Jones Act requires everybody in Puerto Rico to buy goods from an American-made ship with an American crew. What does that do to your costs?

Joel Franqui: It is limiting. I try buying from different counties, but things are so expensive that I then actually have to go through U.S. distributors to be able to get products that are affordable for the economy here. So it is very difficult. I don’t know enough of the politics to know why it hasn’t changed, since it’s such an old law. And most of the states that are affected by that law are against it. But for us, being an island, it’s even worse, because everything has to go through the United States, even the things that we produce here for U.S.-owned businesses or industries. Usually they’re made here and bottled in the United States, and we have to ship them back and actually buy them from the states, not from us.

And from VOX

The island of Puerto Rico is devastated, with millions lacking power, infrastructure destroyed, homes damaged, and an entire year’s worth of agricultural output essentially ruined. Like any disaster-struck place, it will be in need of supplies brought it from elsewhere in the country.

But getting goods from the US mainland to Puerto Rico is much more expensive than sending them to Texas or even to other Caribbean islands as a result of a century-old man-made disaster that’s been crippling the island’s economy for a long time.

Meet the Jones Act, an obscure 1920 regulation that requires that goods shipped from one American port to another be transported on a ship that is American-built, American-owned, and crewed by US citizens or permanent residents.

For most Americans, this isn’t a big deal — it enriches a small number of American shipowners while introducing some weird distortions into the overall pattern of economic activity in the United States.
For the residents of the island of Puerto Rico, though, the Jones Act is huge. Basic shipments of goods from the island to the US mainland, and vice versa, must be conducted via expensive protected ships rather than exposing them to global competition. That makes everything Puerto Ricans buy unnecessarily expensive relative to goods purchased on either the US mainland or other Caribbean islands, and drives up the cost of living on the island overall.

Because of the Jones Act, all goods carried by water between U.S. ports must be shipped on U.S.-flag ships that were constructed in the United States, are owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Supporters of the Act say that it is necessary for national security and that it saves jobs (hence the strong union support for it). However, analysis of the impact of the Act becomes a masterful demonstration of the law of unintended consequences. Though intended to keep American shipbuilding prosperous, under the Jones Act, shipyards have closed and the U.S. flagged Jones Act fleet has shrunk until it is only a shadow of its former self.

Moreover the economic absurdities caused by the Jones Act are legion. The Act makes it cheaper for U.S. livestock farmers to buy grain from overseas than from American sources. States like Maryland and Virginia import their road salt rather than buy it from Ohio. The east coast of the U.S. cannot afford to get lumber from the Pacific Northwest. And shipping oil from Texas to New England costs about three times as much as shipping it to Europe.

The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, otherwise known as the Jones Act, is the foundation for protectionist cabotage laws that govern shipping in the United States. The law was passed with the intention of preserving national interests and providing for national defense by supporting the U.S. merchant marine.

The Jones Act restricts the carriage of goods and passengers between U.S. ports to vessels built and flagged by the U.S. and crewed predominantly by Americans. As a result, domestic shipping in the U.S. is more expensive to consumers, who lack competitive options, as well as to shipping owners, who must pay more for their ships and have higher personnel costs, due to higher employee wages and benefits.

Meanwhile, since World War II, and despite the intent of the Jones Act, U.S. shipyards have been on the decline. As of 2011, there were only five public domestic shipyards in the U.S. and 20 private ones. Of 171 privately owned U.S. flagged ships, 93 were Jones Act-eligible, and 73 could be categorized as militarily useful.

Between 2006 and 2011, the Jones Act-eligible fleet shrank by just over 17 percent, with the number of each vessel type in that category falling, sometimes by a significant amount. If the Jones Act is intended to maintain the health of the commercial shipbuilding industry, then the shrinking U.S. merchant fleet demonstrates that the Act has been a failure in that regard.

The Jones Act is also intended to protect national defense by developing and sustaining a merchant marine force. However, the U.S. government has other tools to ensure a sufficient private merchant vessel fleet without the Jones Act. Defenders of the Jones Act must explain why national security goals could not be achieved through other means.

As for the effect on consumers, the U.S. International Trade Commission has estimated that reform or repeal of the Jones Act could yield an annual economic gain of between $5 and $15 billion.

The economic burden of the Jones Act is felt nationwide, often in unexpected ways, but the highest burden is felt by the noncontiguous territories (including Guam, Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii), which more than the rest of the U.S. depend on shipping for provision of their goods.

By increasing the cost of building ships and requiring higher-priced crews to operate them, and by preventing foreign competitors from shipping between U.S. ports, the Jones Act has raised prices for American consumers, distorted the U.S. economy and stunted the U.S. merchant fleet.

Almost everything in this thread sounds like a good argument for Puerto Rico to dissolve and abandon anything to do with what they deem a tyricannical bully and neglectful state. If they are getting screwed left and right, why would they possibly be encouraged to join such an entity? Become independent and sovereign, and free yourself from enslavement instead of hurling yourself towards the tightening of the shackles, especially when you are not happy about the current situation.

Almost everything in this thread sounds like a good argument for Puerto Rico to dissolve and abandon anything to do with what they deem a tyricannical bully and neglectful state. If they are getting screwed left and right, why would they possibly be encouraged to join such an entity? Become independent and sovereign, and free yourself from enslavement instead of hurling yourself towards the tightening of the shackles, especially when you are not happy about the current situation.

They can't leave because they are dependents. There are wards of the state and then there are dependent territories like PR.

“Force the normies into taking sides. At the moment they are just like "meh, I am minding my own business" retreating culturally into their private bubbles and "safe-spaces" since they don't understand what is going on. When the actual "us vs them" starts, they will be forced to fight or they'll die.” - Anonymous Poster

PBS NewsHour correspondent Chris Bury went to Puerto Rico to understand how citizens are coping with the economic crisis. He spoke to Joel Franqui, owner of a fair-trade store in Puerto Rico, about the taxes and how the Jones Act affects his business.

They live on the island of course goods are going to cost more, just ask the Hawaiians. But the Puerto Ricans don't have to pay personal income taxes to the federal government. I would take that in a heartbeat over having to pay more for consumer goods.

Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

“Force the normies into taking sides. At the moment they are just like "meh, I am minding my own business" retreating culturally into their private bubbles and "safe-spaces" since they don't understand what is going on. When the actual "us vs them" starts, they will be forced to fight or they'll die.” - Anonymous Poster

“Force the normies into taking sides. At the moment they are just like "meh, I am minding my own business" retreating culturally into their private bubbles and "safe-spaces" since they don't understand what is going on. When the actual "us vs them" starts, they will be forced to fight or they'll die.” - Anonymous Poster

“Force the normies into taking sides. At the moment they are just like "meh, I am minding my own business" retreating culturally into their private bubbles and "safe-spaces" since they don't understand what is going on. When the actual "us vs them" starts, they will be forced to fight or they'll die.” - Anonymous Poster

Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez isn’t letting something like a corruption trial get in the way of his perceived legislative duties.
Menendez jetted off to Puerto Rico on Thursday to assess how well the Trump administration is coping
with the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria on the American protectorate.

Menendez doesn’t think President Donald Trump is doing enough to alleviate the situation and demanded more money for assistance.

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez isn’t letting something like a corruption trial get in the way of his perceived legislative duties.
Menendez jetted off to Puerto Rico on Thursday to assess how well the Trump administration is coping
with the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria on the American protectorate.

Menendez doesn’t think President Donald Trump is doing enough to alleviate the situation and demanded more of your money for assistance.

Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.